“There’s never been a time when the world was more tuned-in to broad privacy and security issues, and with the recent revelations about the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program, consumers and businesses around the globe are re-evaluating their security posture, preferred vendors, and deployment strategies,” said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research.

“While it’s too early to say if the NSA debacle will have an impact on security spending, one trend in the security sector is clear: buyers are looking to consolidate security platforms wherever they can. The resulting contraction in standalone security products is directly attributed to 2 things: customers moving to integrated product solutions that support the functions of the original standalone products with adequate performance and security, and customers transitioning away from product-centric security rollouts to hosted/SaaS solutions,” Wilson added.